the history of Korean democracy which emerged as true and full democracy from the establishment of the republic  for all the twists and turns. Democratic politics took several centuries to emerge in the West. Thus, the foundations of Korean democracy were very weak. A time when the Korean people could not exercise the power and freedoms as members of a sovereign nation, or the obligations as citizens of such a nation. Not knowing what democracy, a nation state or the rights and responsibilities of the citizen are. Right up until the establishment of the republic, violent struggle with leftist forces continued. Korean democracy was formed from a less than perfect beginnings, as the basic rights and freedoms of the people were infringed amidst the violent tumult. In the Joseon period,  the Inspectorates (Sahyeonbu) and the Advisory Committees(Saganwon) restrained and criticized the monarch and his bureaucracy. Noble landowning intellectuals outside the corridors of power also critiqued government policy, making appeals against decisions made, thus a public politics existed. Later on, this led to criticism of power politics by the media and intelligentsia. The first election, with universal on the Korean peninsula in which the people can exercise sovereignty as masters of their own destinies. 95.5% turnout, a staggering fact, bespeaks the passion of Korean people in forming a new democratic order. A constitutional convention of 198 people meet on 17th July of the same year to promulgate a constitution. And on 15th August, with the declaration establishing a government, a democratic system is introduced and the Republic of Korea formed. The sovereignty of the republic resides with its citizens, and all power comes from the citizenry. Universal suffrage, freedom of speech, the press, protest and association were guaranteed. and the free market economy was chosen – a system that respects the freedom and creativity of the individual and company. but, the National Assembly selected the president and the vice president, also having the right to appoint the prime minister. So there were elements of a cabinet system too. This represented a compromise between the constitutional convention that wanted a cabinet government, and Syngman Rhee, who wanted a presidential system. At the time, the majority of constitutional convention was nonpartisan and political parties were only in its forming stage. After both failed, in July 1952, Rhee mobilized the regular and military police, as well as supporter groups to forcibly suppress the National Assembly. but a power structure in which the president was selected by the people was created. Subsequently, the Syngman Rhee government began down a path of authoritarianism. This was partially due to the effects of the Korean War, and partly due to the political wilfulness of Syngman Rhee himself. Millions of lives devastated by the war, anti-communism at fever pitch, South Korean politics became increasingly conservative, the politics of the right in the ascent. The first opposition party in Korean political history, the Korean Democratic Party, and its successor, the Democratic National Party, along with the Democratic  party that followed it, were all political parties that represented landlords and property owners. They showed as much strong anti-communist tendencies as the ruling Liberal Party. In September 1945, even the Left selected him as president of the Korean People’s Republic. and demanded that the people and other political factions unite around him. Syngman Rhee, as is clear from the fact that both Left and Right saw him as the rightful president, was a person respected and supported by a large swathe of the people. He was a person with a great authority immediately following liberation. His cabinet meeting were run as clubs of Rhee promoters, that’s the kind of charisma he had. In 1954, approaching the end of his term in office, sought to amend the constitution to get rid of term limits, choosing the path of a would-be president for life. And thus an authoritarian system centred on one man, engineered to guarantee his grip on power, was created through a constitutional amendment. While procedural democracy was maintained at the ballot box and representatives kept in place, the abuse of power by the power elect worsened. Syngman Rhee was a leader to be venerated and respected by the people. a government-backed celebration of Syngman Rhee’s birthday took place in all major cities. On the day, public employees were given the day off, while the ban on night-time travel was also lifted just for the day. However, while this was a period of deepening authoritarianism, it was also a time of democratic progress. First, a political party system with both government and opposition developed. In the early 1950s, with the constitutional change to directly-elected presidents, two parties in direct competition emerged: the pro-Rhee ruling party and the anti-Rhee opposition party. It was the split of political forces into factions that supported and opposed Syngman Rhee that led to the beginnings of the emergence of a two party system. With the formation of the Democratic Party under Shin Ik-hee in 1955, we can see the establishment, proper of the two party system. Second, elections were used as a device to reflect the popular will. The May 1956 Presidential and Vice Presidential elections became an intense battle between the ruling and opposition parties. Shin Ik-hee, the main opposition party’s candidate died suddenly while campaigning, and thus Syngman Rhee was easily reelected. However, Chang Myon, the opposition Vice Presidential candidate was elected his deputy. Two years later, in the Assembly Elections, the opposition made large gains. Students learnt in school the principle of the sovereignty of the people, the basic rights of the citizen, the right to engage in the political process, i.e. Western democratic principles and values. How could it have happened? I think that education played a huge role. I think education in democracy, and through that, learning of liberal democracy, was simply crucial. The development of two party politics, the holding of elections, and education in democratic values became the force behind the 19th April Revolution that overthrew the Syngman Rhee regime. In 1960, Syngman Rhee was already an old man, at 85. But Cho Byeong-ok, the opposition candidate died one month before the day of the election, thereby guaranteeing that Rhee’s re-election. The problem was the Vice Presidential election. The Rhee regime conducted a campaign of mass rigging that included creating phantom voters, mobilizing government power to intimidate voters, having open group voting in groups of 3-5, voting for those who did not vote, switching ballot boxes and faking votes. Thanks to this, Lee Gi-bung got close to 80% 0f the vote in the election, but the result was not recognized by the people. People  began protests in the major cities of the country on the day of the election. People were enraged when the police opened fire on the protests, killing marchers. In Masan on 11th April the dead body of high school student called Kim Ju-yeol was discovered – who had gone missing on the day of the election while protesting – tear bomb still lodged in his eyes. The indiscriminate fire by the police on protestors, that included many students, killed about 100 and injured 450. The government moved to declare a martial law. With the army refusing to take action, the people continuing to resist and American pressure, Rhee resigned. Thus, Korea’s first authoritarian government fell. What’s more, dictators had to justify their seizure of power as being a temporary limiting of freedoms. They could not deny the value of liberal democracy, they emphasized the temporary nature of the restrictions on freedom. Following Rhee’s resignation, the opposition Democratic Party led a constitutional reform process that resulted in the adoption of a cabinet government system. but they were divided over whether old group centred on Yun Posun, or the new group centred on Chang Myon should take on the crucial prime minister. Yun became president, Chang prime minister, but the demands of the people, so long suppressed, erupted, creating social chaos. During the Korean War, the military had become more modern and organized than any other social group. Before the war, the army was composed of a mere 100,000 men, but by the late 1950s it had increased by more than seven times. The officer corps had similarly increased rapidly in size. They also acquired a sense of responsibility for the state. These young officers became disillusioned with their older superiors, and increasingly found themselves in conflict with their way of doing things. Following the revolution, they called on older officers to retire and for reform of the military, but such calls were ignored. As a result, Kim Jong-pil, a leading figure calling for reform left the military, while Park Chung-hee was demoted to a less important post. The Chang Myon government did not take the threat of revolt from the Park Chung-hee-led group of officers seriously. What they did not know as that they had all but collapsed from within as the army Chief of staff was already working with the Park group. Park Chung-hee and his co-conspirators initiated their coup in the early hours of the morning on 16th May 1961. Neither Prime Minister Chang nor President Yun made any serious efforts to resist. Chang Myon lay low, while Yun Poson refused to demand that the head of US forces in Korea intervene to suppress the coup. As a result, the coup was tacitly accepted by the United States as well. The coup leaders formed the Supreme Council for National Reconstruction, mobilizing extra-legal force to deal with social unrest while beginning a program of economic development. In order to do this, it created the Korean Central Intelligence Agency (KCIA) as the government’s principle security organ, and organized a political party through which the military would participate in elections. December 1962, a constitutional amendment creating a directly-elected presidential system is approved in a referendum. October 1963, Park Chung-hee, coup leader, beats Yun Poson, president in the Democratic Party administration in the presidential election. A close result, with Park receiving 4.7 million votes to Yun’s 4.55 million. At the same time, democratic party-based politics and representative government was restored. From his first year in office, Park sought to normalize relations with Japan. His second-in-command, Kim Jong-pil, head of the KCIA, met with Japanese foreign minister Ohira in November 1962 and agreed on the amount of aid that Japan would pay Korea. The opposition party and students saw this as a shameful betrayal of the nation, and began struggle to resist the proposed normalization. From March 1964, protests became more serious. Park saw them as opposition without alternative and mobilized the military to suppress them. 3rd June, another massive protest erupts, and martial law is declared. The next year in August, as the National assembly was about to ratify the Korea-Japan Normalization Treaty, the Garrison Act was invoked across Seoul. and Park Chung-hee was able to easily  win re-election in 1967. This time around, Park won handsomely, with 5.69 million votes to Yun Poson’s 4.53 million, a 1.16 million vote margin. In 1969, Park began a push for a third term amendment to the constitution. However, Park once again mobilized the KCIA and army in order to pass the amendment. What’s more, he managed to beat the young Kim Dae-jung, opposition candidate, in the 1971 presidential election, becoming the third term president. amid rapid change in the global situation, with Sino-American rapprochement, on the pretext of improving state security and continuing economic development, he attempted to stay in power longer. The Cold War was also changing in other ways too, with not only the US, but also Japan seeking to normalize relations with China. To Park, this presented both a security and state crisis. He thought that only he could resolve this crisis, and that he had to remain at the helm. In October 1972, Park once again mobilized the military, declaring martial law and suspending the constitution. Under in the tense atmosphere of martial law, a new constitution was put to a referendum and approved. No longer was the president to be directly elected, rather the president was selected by Unification People’s Congress, in what was called a ‘gym election’. The people had thus lost their right to choose their own government. The president also had the authority to dissolve parliament and put in place emergency measures, while 1/3 of the National Assembly was, in reality, selected by the president himself. Thus, only a shell remained of representative democracy and the separation of powers. And so it was that the Yushin political system was created: one-man rule, Park Chung-hee alone, with power he could need. However, in the February 1973 National assembly elections, the people did not support this new system. the opposition New Democracy Party and the Democratic Unification Party secured a combined 43% of the vote. Students and opposition-minded intellectuals, as well as religious people, demanded that the Yushin constitution be amended, and began a constitutional amendment petition campaign. In 1974, the Federation of Democratic  Young Students affair involving allegations that a nationwide student movement organization hoped to start a violent revolution occurred, along with People’s Revolutionary Party reformation committee affair. In the People’s Revolutionary Party Affair, eight of those involved were sentenced to death, and the sentences were carried out immediately. In the spring of 1975, the three states of Indochina, Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos fell to communism. Fears mounted that if one region went communist others would follow, like a domino. Park Chung-hee promulgated the decisive emergency measure: No. 9, that closed the eyes and mouths of the people, tying their hands and feet. In the meantime, general heavy and chemical industrialization, and rapid growth continued. The economic expansion of 1976 to 1978 was even known as the most prosperous of Golden Ages in Korean history. But the political situation did not remain calm for long, a new crisis soon ensued. The U.S. Carter administration, sworn in 1977, sought to pursue a foreign policy grounded in human rights, and was sharply critical of the Korean human rights situation. In response, student protests demanding a return to constitutional democracy started again. The common people could not but remain silent in the face of police and secret police surveillance and repression. However, the aversion of the people to Park’s dictatorial rule grew. The major of people sought to signal their disgust with the situation, through the electoral process, restricted and controlled though the process was. Thus, in the General Election of late 1978, more of the electorate voted for the opposition than for the ruling party, thus demonstrating that the government no longer represented the people. The economic growth of the 1970s did sure up support for the Park Chung-hee government to a certain extent, but it also created a middle class. This meant that people’s consciousness was raised, a spirit of criticism and resistance was formed. The boom, in part, helped to Park Chung-hee to maintain his grip on power, but at the same time, the emerging middle class increasingly became organized as a force of resistance to his rule – a group who clearly saw the negative aspects to the political situation. It is arguable that the assassination of Park Chung-hee (the 26th October Incident) partially resulted from the ’78 election results. In August of the same year, while the police were forcibly breaking up a sit-in of female workers from the wigmakers YH at the opposition party headquarters, one of the workers was killed. In September, Kim Young-sam said in an interview with the New York Times that the US government should openly and directly exert pressure on the Park government in order to effect democratization in Korea. Park did not take kindly to these remarks, and had Kim’s seat in the National Assembly taken away. This tough response revoked massive protests in Busan and Masan, the base of Kim Young-sam’s political support. While trying to suppress the protests, divisions at the apex of power emerged, Park Chung-hee was assassinated by the head of the KCIA, and with that, the Yushin system collapsed. With Yushin’s collapse, there was much hope and desire for democratization. University students began to protest, demanding immediate democratization, such as ending martial law and setting out a political schedule of events to come. In reaction to this, on the pretext of the need to prevent social chaos, the new military government enlarged martial law, arrested opposition figures including Kim Dae-jung, dissolved the National Assembly, closed all universities nationwide and banned all protests. The following day, on 18th May, university students and others clashed with the military outside the front gate of Jeonnam University in Kwangju city. Students and people in the area demanded the release of Kim Dae-jung and democratization, but paratroopers attacked the crowd indiscriminately with clubs, killing protestors. The citizens of the city were engaged, and a massive protest ensued. Some protestors seized arms from the army reserve stores, and armed themselves. In the early hours of 27th May, the military re-entered the city and massacred civilians while suppressing protests. As a result of these actions, a combined total of close to 200 civilians, military personnel and police were killed. The Yushin constitution was amended, but indirect presidential elections remained, thus depriving voters of the chance to choose their government. Chun Doo-hwan was elected president in another ‘gym election’. That said, Chun Doo-hwan, president under the 5th Republic, promised to only serve one term as president, thus signally a change from the one-man dictatorships of the past. Even though he chose the path of authoritarian governance, he promised to only serve one seven-year term. Thus, future democratization remained a possibility. Rapid economic growth, led to a large increase in the average income. More not only went to high school but also university. Thus there was a large rise in the highly educated, highly skilled and highly paid workers – the bedrock of the middle class. Such people understood the rights and obligations of the citizen, and were a group that hoped for the realization of democratization. The ‘president selected in the gymnasium’ and the night 9 o’clock ‘ding-ding Chun news’ was unbearable for such people. The student protest movement, expanded as the Chun Doo-hwan government took power. The movement argued that the United States had helped Chun into power, and became increasingly anti-American. There also emerged a group within the movement that sought socialist revolution as their ultimate goal. In 1983, Kim Young-sam went on hunger strike for 23 days, demanding  five clause of  democratizations, including an end to media censorship. This again inflamed demands for democratization in broader society. With the Chun government’s aggressive economic stabilization measures and the global economy reviving, economic growth returned. Former opposition politicians were permitted to engage in political activities once again. Thus the regime sought to cohabit with its critics. It was at this time that the movement for democratization amongst former opposition politicians, students and intellectuals became more active. Kim Young-sam,  released from house arrest and, along Kim Dae-jung, who had sentenced to death but exiled to the United States, formed the Council for the Promotion of Democracy, from which they made written declarations and organized protests demanding democratization. Their newly organized opposition party became the leading opposition in the February 1985 General Elections. This new opposition party began a movement for the restoration of direct government election, for the restoration of the right of the people to choose their government. The student movement also focused much energy on educating workers. the police while attempting to hunt down and arrest key members of students power and  the labour movement, used sexual torture against female students and even tortured students to death. In July 1986, it emerged that one  Bucheon police officer had tortured sexually a female student who had been disguised as a worker. In January 1987, personnels at branch office  of National Police Headquarters, in Namyeong-dong tortured students they had brought in, before killing them. and because united in their support of the movement to change the constitution. here was no way to switch to a parliamentary system, so on 13th April 1987, Chun revealed his intention to maintain the constitution as it was, with indirectly elected president. This amounted to Chun riding roughshod over popular opinion. In June, beginning with religious groups including the Catholics, people for all walks of life became engaged in the constitutional amendment movement. Hitherto a movement limited to students and opposition party activists, it became a generalized movement even including ordinary white-colars, the so-called ‘necktie brigade’. it was feared that if the army got involved, another Gwangju like event could occur. Thus, it was decided that a compromise should be made, accepting the demand for direct presidential elections, the 29th June Declaration. Because the people were so strong in their demand for change, if the movement had been suppressed it would have resulted in much bloodshed, and the ruling group thought that it would then be difficult to deal with resulting issues. The fear was that the Olympics could be cancelled. So the elite decided to compromise. With agreement of ruling and opposition parties, a democratic constitution including provisions for a directly elected president agreed and won in a referendum. Thus, the Republic of Korea became a democratic republic through peaceful compromise. Roh was selected from within the ruling group, but he was elected by the people, and thus his election represented a democratic choice made by the people. Five years later, in 1992, Kim Young-sam, former democracy activist and opposition party leader, having joined the ruling party, was elected president. As a result, almost 30 years of rule by Generals came to end. Kim acquired the ruling party’s presidential candidate after merging of three parties in 1990. In office, he rid the military of secret organizations, made it impossible for the military to intervene in politics, and punished those in charge of the last military government. In the 1997 Presidential Election, Kim Dae-jung became the first opposition party candidate to be elected president. This was also the first time that a candidate from the Jeolla region of the country had been elected. Five years after that, the opposition took power again, with the victory of Lee Myung-bak. In 2012 election, as ruling party’s candidate Park Geun-hye was elected president also. The legacy of authoritarian politics left from the era of military rule has all but gone. Now the threat from the military or ultra-right forces has all but disappeared. Representatives of the people selected by election, division of powers and political freedoms were introduced first. But it took much time before the principles became realities. Initially, Koreans did not pay for democracy, it was handed to them on a platter. Only later, by paying the price, did they actually get real democracy. Thanks to the form they were given, could they create a democratic reality. Even under dictatorship, elections, the bedrock of representative democracy, remained. Citizens expressed their opinion through the ballot box. Korean party politics and elections went on since they were established in 1948. Under dictatorships in Latin America and in Southeast Asia, after the army seized power, there were many instances of all parties being dissolved. The democratization movement, that included opposition parties, students, intellectuals and religious groups, was able to gain momentum from electoral results. while industrialization and the emergence of the middle class created a core constituency for democracy. The middle class could not abide dictatorship, an anachronism given the fruits of economic development. They threw their support behind the democratization movement, and thus the military dictatorship exited the political stage. Circumstantial factors like the scandal created by the torture of students in the movement and the impending Seoul Olympics were also important. as the Olympics neared, the ruling group were not in a position to suppress the movement any longer. Now all that is left is to add substance and depth to Korean democracy. Democracy is not something that just ends at a particular point, it’s something that keeps going. We have succeeded in creating a democracy, it’s been consolidated, now it must progress a further step, so that we can live together in one community in which the lives of all are considered. In a community, one does not merely assert one’s own rights, one also considers what one must do for the community, and what one’s community needs. In that respect, we must seriously consider the problem of political  education of citizens. As yet, the average citizen’s engagement is lacking, and grassroots democracy remains weak. We must consider how get citizens involved in the politics of their lives and active within grassroots democracy. When this happens, it can be said that our democracy has progressed a step future. while getting citizens more involved in the political process.